Toddlers and 2-Year Old Programming
"I'm just a kid, I have a lot of stuff to do yet."
~ Clint Eastwood
Our commitment to quality care continues in our Toddler and 2-year old rooms. Children at this age are eager learners who energetically interact with materials and people. We at the center realize that an environment and curriculum that encourages each child's growing need of independence is a basis for developing and mastering life skills and a positive self esteem. By playing in both large and small groups, these children will learn valuable social skills needed to effectively interact with others. While engaging in fun activities toddlers and 2-year olds will discover their likes and talents and will be exposed to fundamentals such as: colors, shapes, self-help skills, as well as social and language development.
Children under the age of 2 years old will have a notebook system for direct communication with their teacher(s). In this notebook the teacher will log the daily activities, feedings and the rest times of your child. Parents will be asked to list pertinent information that will ensure the individualized schedule of each child is up-to-date, to inculde but not limited to: the last time your child ate, slept and was changed, as well as mood and sleeping patterns of the night before. Parents of 2-year olds will find daily information posted in the Parent Area of the room.
Arts for Kids has an individualized program for the needs of children ages of
6-weeks to 2-years old.
All children will have individual contact and attention through feeding, diapering and learning experience.
Each child will follow their individual routine of feeding and sleeping set by their home environment.
The children will be provided with equipment to fit their educational development and creative expression appopriate to their age level.
Daily communication with parents:
~ A notebook for each child under two years of age will be sent home with parents summarizing child's activities.
Parents will bring back notebook with information for teachers.
Staff will ensure that throughout the day infants will be moved into different activities.
Potty Training Policy
If parents and the center are in agreement that a child is developmentally ready, Arts for Kids will begin to encourage potty training at age 2.
At 2-1/2 years old age, regular potty training is part of our daily program and routine. Children will be encouraged to wear pull-ups or underwear (depending on progress) and have plenty of extra pull-ups or underwear on hand. They will be taken to the bathroom every 2 hours (possibly more often at the beginning). If a child is wearing underwear, they will be put in a pull-up or diaper for naps, unless completely trained. We will use lots of praise for a "job well done" and lots of understanding when "accidents happen" if a child has a rough day.
Sometimes potty training can happen overnight and sometimes it can be a long process - we just need to have a lot of patience.
November 2023 News!
Toddler I
Hello Everyone!
The month of October flew by pretty fast! Speaking of flying we were waving our arms and trying to fly like bats! We painted bats, made footprint ghosts, painted pumpkins using a sponge, and made knuckle paint pumpkin patches! We read lots of stories including “Spooky Friends,” “Five Little Pumpkins” and “The Littlest Pumpkin.” We enjoyed playing with plastic small jack o lanterns! We put Halloween cookie cutters and the smaller jack o lanterns in big pumpkin buckets. We sang a song called “Jack o Lantern” ... “Jack o Lantern, Jack o Lantern, you are such a lovely sight, as you sit here in the window looking out at the light!”
We dressed up as firefighters wearing hats and sat in a big box that we colored to be our pretend firetruck. We saw firetrucks with lights on during our buggy rides. We’ve observed many fall and Halloween decorations by the river walk and downtown.
I will be off having cataract surgery the week of week of November 6th—10th.
We will do many fun activities during the month of November! We are thankful for so much!
Have a blessed Thanksgiving and God bless you all.
Karen and Morgan
Toddler II
Happy November! We hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween. Last month we made lots of Halloween crafts, and sang songs about things you might see while trick or treating. The kids enjoyed the last bit of warm weather playing outside, and taking walks in the mall when it was too cold out. This month we plan on making lots of Thanksgiving crafts, and to redecorate the classroom. Our themes this month are: Vegetables, Hibernation, Thanksgiving, and Seasons.
Sincerely,
Ms. Kenzie and Ms. Tina
Toddler III
Hello everyone!
As October comes to an end, we can look back on all the fun things we did. Dressing up and playing store for community helpers week, pumpkin suncatchers, and spiderweb crafts are just a few examples.
Coming up in November, we will be exploring shapes, woodland animals, fall foliage, Thanksgiving, and All About Me.
With the cooler temps, please continue to bring weather appropriate clothing and outdoor gear.
Happy November!
Ms. Rachel
2's I
Hello Families
We have been working on drinking out of big boy/girl cups, using a spoon, sitting on the potty, sharing toys, using gentle hands and using listening ears.
Our themes last month were: Super Heroes/Community Helpers, Fire Prevention
(the children loved when the fireman came with the fire truck and put all his gear on and showed them the fire hose and let them squirt the water), Weather and then Harvest /Pumpkin/Scarecrows were next. Last we had Halloween. The kiddos always look so cute in their costumes and they enjoy going trick-or-treating.
Our themes for November are: Halloween, Friendship, Transportation, Thanksgiving and Healthy Habits.
I will be on vacation to San Diego from November 1st—8th.
Parent Teacher Conferences will be November 14th & 16th. Sign up sheet will be posted by our class door.
Remember to check your child’s cubby for important paperwork and art.
Parents make sure there is an extra set of clothes in their cubby and make sure they have a coat here.
I hope everyone has a wonderful month.
Ms. Ashley
2's-II
Hello all and welcome November,
We had a very busy/fun month in October. Some skills we worked on were sharing, fine motor skills, matching, balancing, taking turns, colors, and counting. The first week in October our theme was superheroes. We practiced memorizing our shapes by sticking shapes onto a cape. We used our imagination to fly around the room like Superman and we talked about how superheroes protect people. The second week we talked about our community helpers. It was so cute hearing the kids try to say community helpers. During that week firefighter Steve and Chris were nice enough to show us the equipment they put on and they brought the green fire truck. The kids loved spraying the hose. The following week our theme was Weather. We loved making the rainy day rainbow art. My friends thought the cloud in a jar was pretty cool and kept asking a lot of questions (curious minds). The next week we did a lot of Halloween activities. We loved using our fine motor skills to stick jack-o-lanterns and witch hats into a strainer. We also really enjoyed the “Going on a Goon Hunt” book. The Halloween Pom pom sort was a success and so was knocking down the Halloween cups. The last few days I was on vacation but I heard the children’s Halloween costumes were cute ☺️. With the weather getting colder this month please remember to bring the appropriate outerwear for your kiddos. I hope everyone enjoys the month and hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.
Ms. Laura
2's-III
Hello families and welcome to November in 2’s III.
I hope you have been enjoying a glimpse into our daily activities via the HiMama program. The children love getting their pictures taken during the day and like to look at themselves when we talk about what we have done that day.
We had a wonderful time last month learning about Superheroes, Firefighters, Weather, Pumpkins and Scarecrows, and a not so scary side of Halloween.
To help with our social skills we started off the month with Superheroes and learned that they help others. We built on the concepts of working together and helping others through lots of coordinated play activities such as superhero dress up, ring around the Rosie, relay games, basketball and building block towers.
For some hands on learning about fire safety, we were blessed with a visit by Firefighter Steve! We got to see all the equipment fire fighters use, see the gear they wear and even though they look strange they are there to help us in a fire, and we even got to spray the fire hose! Thank you Mr. Steve, you made our day!
Our language skills are improving every day! With answering the question of the day, looking at books, and lots of talking about our themes and activities each day, we have really built on our vocabulary!
We are becoming great athletes with our large motor activities. From tag, bubble chasing, basketball, relay games, corn hole, and even yoga we are having a great time learning what our muscles can do! We have started using the magic flip method of independently putting on our jackets since the weather has been chilly. Be sure to have your child show you how to do it!
Our fine motor skills are really coming along! We have been practicing our eye hand coordination daily using different items in our sand and water tables, such as pipettes, scoops, cookie cutters, and figurines. We have also built our muscles in our hands and used our imaginations as we have done art activities with sponges, paint brushes, shaving cream, and even zip lock bags and straws.
We finished off the month with the fun side of Halloween by going trick or treating! What fun we had! Thank you to all who brought in costumes, it was great to see all the cute looks. Have a wonderful month!
Ms. Sara B and 2’s-III
